Improvement in repairing railroad-tracks



' Bepairing Railroad.Tracks.

N--o.l60,197.

1. nous-Ton.

Patented Feb. 23,1875

Attorneys THE GRAPHIC CD.PHOT0.-LlTH-39 8:41 PAR K PLAGEJLY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN HOUSTON, OF WOODBURN, IOWA.

IMPROVEMENT IN REPAIRING RAILROAD-TRACKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 160,197, dated February 23, 1875; application filed December 14, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN HOUs'roN, of Woodburn, in the county of Clarke and in the State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Tracks; and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had'to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon, making a part of this specification.

The nature of my invention consists in a tapering rail having a rib on one face, and used in combination with a repairing-rail, when the two are connected together by means of clamps and bolts, as more fully hereinafter set forth. A

In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a section which has been spliced; Fig. 2, a cross-section of two rails, showing the clamping device; and Fig. 3, a perspective view of the short rail.

- 1n the figures, A A represent the two contiguous rails on one side of a track, whileB and B represent the two upon the opposite side. In this case, from some cause or other, it has been found necessary by the workmen repairing the road to remove the rail, which has been replaced by B; but the rail B is found to be too long by several inches, so that it cannot be made to fit in place. To remedy this evil, and to prevent the necessity of cutting off the end of the long rail, which would be much trouble, and take some time, I have constructed a short tapering rail, O. In order to use this rail, the workmen, by any suitable means, bend the overlapping end of rail B, as from a: to a), or the length of the short rail, so that it will stand on the outside of the track, and free of the rail-bed. The short rail I is then placed in position, with its large end butting against the end of rail B, and its taporing end resting against rail B at the point where the bend in it was commenced. This short rail is then securely fastened in place to the rail B by means of the clamps E E, which pass under the bottoms of the rails O B, and against the outer sides of the same, and are securely heldthereto by the bolts a a, as shown in Fig. 2, so as to make the track perfectly secure. On the inside of the short rail, and reaching to its tapered end, is a rib, D, which is intended to lie snugly in the recess upon the inside of the long rail B, so as to more securely hold it in position, and brace and strengthen it. The tapering rail 0 is applicable with a repairing-rail Whenever the latter is either too short or too long.

I do not, broadly, claim the use of a substitute rail to be placed between the outwardlysprung ends of two adjacent rails of a railroad-track that are either too short or too long for the purpose of fillingin between the same, as I am aware that such is not new; but

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In combination with the repairing-rail B,

the tapering rail 0, having rib D secured to the repairing-rail by the clamps E and bolts a a, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 11th day of November, 187 4.

' JOHN HOUSTON.

Witnesses:

G. L. Evnnr, H. A. HALL. 

